[NancyBrooke]

"All Things Considered" is planning to air an article tonight (10/31) about the modern vampire as romantic hero. Should be interesting!

If you can't catch it 'live', it will be available starting later tonight from the NPR.org website here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=2

[DarkElfChilde]

That sounds interesting.

[Viv]

Did anybody catch it? Was it illuminating?

I admit to adoring Lestat, back when I was in middle-school. He seemed very smexy. Tom Cruise sorta ruined him for me, years later, and Stewart Townsend wasn't able to redeem him. On the other hand, I did have some fangirly moments imagining an Armand that looked like Antonio Banderas. Rowr.

I haven't been able to get into the fad of paranormal romances, but I hear that some are very good. And of course they sell like hotcakes, so if I was really serious about I'd investigate this phenomenon further.

[Sulriel]

Viv, try Patricia Briggs "Mercy" series. There are three Mercy books, I think they're available in a single combined vol now.

And there is an "Anna and Charles" short story in an anthology (I'll have to look up the name for you) and her newest "Cry Wolf" is Anna and Charles.

It isn't the most typical "paranormal romance" if you are just looking at the genre in general, but I found these very fun and engaging and well worth reading.

[NancyBrooke]

The radio piece was interesting, but, really, how deep can you get in so little time?

The big point was how vampires reflect a culture's current romantic values, in this case how since the advent of Aids there's not so much blood-sucking, and that the current crop of abstemious vampires is a kinder, gentler romantic, although one interviewee called them ultimately disappointing (dare I say "bloodless"? ). They focussed mostly on "Twilight" and something else I wasn't at all familiar with.

I encourage anyone who is interested to listen, if only to identify who was interviewed and read more of their work.